NCAAF Picks

Hidden Value On Tulsa As College Football Pick Against The Spread vs. Ohio St

Sports handicapper Ian Cameron provides a betting preview of Week 2 of the College Football season, and he finds value on the Tulsa vs Ohio State game, read on to get his pick.

Tulsa Golden Hurricane vs Ohio State BuckeyesI provided a winning wager with Tulsa as a free play recommendation last week here on the blog and I’m going to back Tulsa once again here on Saturday as they head to the horseshoe to face Ohio State. I don’t take it lightly stepping in front of Urban Meyer and his Buckeyes but this is not the greatest of spots at all for the home team. Ohio State is coming off a thorough 77-10 domination over a retooling Bowling Green squad last week and a team that was breaking in a new head coach and QB. Ohio State has a trip to Norman, Oklahoma on deck for a showdown with the Oklahoma Sooners. In between is this home date against Tulsa which showed last week that this is an improved team as they took apart San Jose State 45-10 outgaining the Spartans by 225 yards. Ohio State’s offense looked spectacular last week led by QB J.T. Barrett as the Buckeyes piled up a mind-boggling 776 total yards of offense against an overmatched Bowling Green defense. Currently, the College Football Odds board has Ohio State at -28.5.

The Buckeyes did benefit from a +2 TO margin and the Falcons offense couldn’t generate much with new starting QB James Knapke having a very tough assignment on the road in his first start as the new Falcons QB. Things will not be as easy specifically on the defensive side of the football for Ohio State in this contest. Tulsa is led by a senior QB in Dane Evans leading a potent passing attack and the team has solid skill position talent surrounding their QB with the likes of RB D’Angelo Brewer and WR Keevan Lucas.

Tulsa’s biggest weakness for years has been defense and their ability to get stops but they should be improved on that side of the football. They displayed that improved defense last week holding San Jose State to just 287 total yards and were able to decisively win the battle in the trenches on defense by shutting down the Spartans ground attack as San Jose State gained only 53 yards on the ground on 32 carries at paltry 1.7 yards per rush clip. It should give them some confidence they can at least hang tough against Ohio State’s ground attack featuring freshman RB Mike Weber who carved up Bowling Green last week for 136 yards at 7.2 yards per carry last week and showed the Buckeyes will be just fine in the run game without Ezekiel Elliott.

The type of team I prefer to ‘bet on’ in this large double-digit underdog price range of 4 TD’s or more is a team like Tulsa that can flat out score points and move the football because it opens up the back door if necessary. Tulsa was excellent as a double-digit underdog last season with easy point spread covers against Virginia Tech (55-52 loss catching +14), Cincinnati (49-38 loss catching +22.5), and Oklahoma (52-38 loss catching +31.5). The only time they failed to cover in that role was against Navy (44-21 catching +12.5) which was a nightmare matchup for a beaten down defense late in the season. The bottom line is Tulsa has the offensive firepower and Ohio State might not have the requisite focus for 60 minutes making the +29 an attractive wager and this week's College Football Play Of The Week.